Victory was tinged with a little disappointment for Hitchin following their 17-7 triumph at Hampstead on Saturday.

The visitors made it four successive wins after scoring their third try with 15 minutes remaining and although frustrated not to add a bonus-point fourth in that time, they were satisfied with a solid defensive effort to thwart Hampstead’s efforts to secure a bonus point of their own.

Hitchin also had to come from behind as their opponents struck first after ten minutes when poor line speed permitted an offload and a missed tackle allowed the winger to score under the posts.

Hitchin responded and winger Max Jarmain, on his first start for the first XV, found space on the left edge, only to be thwarted by a last ditch tap tackle before being bundled into touch.

But the visitors got on the scoresheet when a terrific kick from captain James Bolter put Hitchin on the Hampstead five-metre line, and Bolter sacked the receiver in the lineout to earn a penalty.

Bolter quickly tapped it and had the power to surge over the line for his side’s first try, but the conversion was unsuccessful, leaving Hitchin 7-5 down after 25 minutes.

That was how the score remained at the interval after Hampstead missed a kick at goal from a penalty inside the 15-metre line.

Hitchin struck after the restart when fly half Dan Wiggins found centre Simon Taylor on a hard line, and Taylor offloaded out of the tackle to Number 8 Frazer McGown at full pace. He was hauled down ten metres out, but offloaded to scrum half Elliot Gibson to squeeze over in the left corner to give his side a 10-7 lead.

Hampstead had a player sin-binned for a deliberate knock on when in a try-scoring position. This galvanised the hosts, who came closer to scoring a try up the hill than Hitchin had in the first half.

Taylor found centre Dan Barnes on a terrific angle, and Barnes could only be tackled by the full back. This ultimately gave Hitchin the momentum for their third try. Barnes found winger Aiken Verschuur, who stepped inside his opposite number and broke a covering tackle to finish an excellent individual effort. Wiggins converted for a decisive ten-point advantage.